Author
Topic: ROCKBOX FORUM GUIDELINES (Read 22388 times)

1. Read through the FAQ (Frequently Asked Question) section for your player, as well as searching for an answer in the Rockbox manual for your player. The FAQ section contains solutions to many common problems and answers to many common questions. There is a good chance that you will find the answer to your question in a FAQ.

2. If you can't find the answer in a FAQ, use the "search" button to search for your issue. You may find that your question has already been answered.

3. If you cannot find the answer to your question in the FAQ section or through a search, then feel free to start a new thread. (Of course, you should only start one new thread. Do not post the same question in multiple forums.)___________________________________________________________________________

When starting a thread, please observe these simple posting guidelines.

POSTING GUIDELINES:

1. Post in the appropriate forum.

Most Rockbox features work the same way on all supported Rockbox platforms. Any question about the website, project goals or direction, or what Rockbox is or is about should go in the General Rockbox Discussion forum. Questions specific to a particular aspect of the software (such as a question about button mappings, which would be the User Interface forum) should go in the forum dedicated to discussion of that aspect.

Before posting in any forum, read the sticky relating to what topics belong there for further clarification, and to be sure you're in the right place. In some cases this also includes instructions for proper formatting of your post subject.

If you are uncertain as to which post a forum belong in, it is best to choose the General forum. Nothing regarding Rockbox is strictly off topic there, and as well it is understandable that sometimes which forum to use can be unclear. Falling back to General helps prevent off-topic posting in most of the other boards, and the post can be moved if there is a more appropriate board.

As well, the forums are discussion forums, and not a place for reporting bugs or making feature requests. While asking to see if others experience your issues or if they can reproduce them is valid, actually reporting a bug is what the bug tracker is for. The link is on the left bar. The same is true for feature requests, and publishing patches. All three of these are the reason the tracker exists, and developers will not be looking for bug reports, feature requests, or patches in the forums and are often unlikely to ever see them here.

Note that the Rockbox Forums are limited to discussion of Rockbox and Rockbox-related issues. The Rockbox Forums are not general support forums for jukeboxes that run Rockbox. Please limit discussion to Rockbox-related issues. So, for example, questions about how to use iTunes or how to encode your CDs to MP3 are not appropriate for the Rockbox forums. Exception: issues that deal with physical damage to hardware of Rockbox-supported players can be posted in the Hardware/Repairing broken players forum.

2. Use a descriptive thread title.

In some of the forums, you are given a specific format we ask you to follow when posting your thread title. If this format is not followed, your title may be changed or your post possibly removed. In the case that a specific format is not given, we ask you to follow these guidelines.

Be sure to include a brief description of your issue or question in the title of your thread. This will help other users understand what you need and avoid clicking on threads in which they have no interest.

Standard English is required on the Rockbox forums. This means that you must make an effort to use proper spelling, grammar and punctuation.

Unacceptable: "i D/Led a new build for my playa now all my fnts r rilly small do u no how 2 fix this"

Acceptable: "I downloaded a new build for my H300. Now the fonts on my WPS are all very small. Do you know how to fix this?"

Proofread your posts! Everyone makes the occasional typos or spelling mistakes, but please make an effort to make your post readable.

If you need to edit your post after you submit it, or if you need to add additional information, DO NOT create a separate post. The "modify" button will allow you to edit your post. We call the creation of additional posts in a thread without user response "double posting" and it is frowned upon in nearly all cases.4. Include all relevant information, including the SVN revision number of the build that you are running and the platform that you are running it on. (The SVN revision number is displayed on the splash screen when Rockbox boots, and can also be located by selecting System --> Rockbox Info from the main menu and looking under the "Version" heading.)

If you have a question, be sure to describe your issue in detail. The more information you provide, the more likely it is that you will get a helpful response.

DON'T: "Why did my player lock up? How do I reset it?"

DO: "I have an H340 running r14180. The player locked up while I was trying to insert an Ogg Vorbis file into my current playlist using the "Insert" function. The file plays fine if I simply select it, but locks up when I try to insert it into a playlist. I searched but did not find any posts describing a similar problem. Is this a known issue? Now that my player is locked up, is there a way to reset it?"

5. Other guidelines.

The forums are for two-way discussion/interaction. One-way communication of information -- e.g. documentation, tutorials, or links to resources -- should be posted on the Rockbox Wiki

Rockbox respects the intellectual property of others. Please do not discuss how to obtain copyrighted material illegally, or how to remove digital rights management (DRM) or other copyright protection schemes. Do not post the intellectual property of someone else unless you have permission to do so.

Please do not start a thread saying that your player is "BRICKED" unless you are absolutely 100% sure that it is, in fact, bricked. ("Locked up requiring a reset" is NOT the same as "bricked.")

Please do not report bugs that occur using a custom or experimental build, unless you have confirmed that the bug can be replicated using an official build from the current build link on the left.

Please do not post about existing or future functionality at all without verifying the existing functionality in a current build. Rockbox is ever-changing and it can confuse users if people post incorrect or out of date information.

The "report to moderator" button send an e-mail to everyone who is an administrator or moderator. This button should be used only for reporting of spam, abuse, or other similar problems. If you need to contact a moderator to ask a question or discuss an issue, please use a private message.

Please do not bump posts. This goes with the "edit your post if you need to add more information" but we feel that competing for front page placement is pointless. If someone knows the answer they're likely to answer, if they don't then it's a simple as that. Please don't create an environment where people with their unanswered questions are returning regularly to put them back on the front page.

Please refrain from using odd formatting such as needless colours, font size changes, bold/italic/etc formatting, and special characters when they are not needed. This makes the conversation harder to follow by many people and can be quite painful on the eyes. The ability to perform these sorts of formatting exists as it can be used sparingly help highlight information.

Do not send private messages with a support question, unless you have been directed to do so. These forums exist as a means of community support, and private messages should not be sent to Administrators, Developers, Moderators, or Experts unless you are asking a question that is for some reason relevant only to them. For example, if you fear you have a damaged player, it should be asked in the appropriate forum. If you want to ask about code a specific developer has written, you should still ask in the appropriate forum, as others may understand it. If you want to thank an administrator for moving your post to the appropriate section, this may be considered an appropriate use of private messages, though in general this is unnecessary. Private messages often result in an email being sent, and may be considered 'urgent.' If you abuse the system by sending PMs for general support requests (no matter how important that request is to you personally) PMs may become restricted or disabled.

The moderators and administrators have the right, in their sole discretion, (1) to remove or edit any post or thread that does not comply with these guidelines, (2) to provide warnings to the author of such posts or threads, and/or (3) to modify these guidelines. Any questions about these guidelines should be directed to the moderators or admins.

6. Standard Conventions.

This is merely a list of some standard conventions used when discussing the technologies on this board. Please, follow these conventions to make sure everyone understands more easily what everyone is talking about:

1g/1G/2g/2G/3g etc. - These are 1st Generation, 2nd Generation and so on. If you are denoting the size of the capacity of your player, use 1GB, 2GB, etc. or type out full words to avoid confusion. The iPods are very often referred to by their generation using this notation.

WPS - While Playing Screen. It is not a Now Playing Screen, or The Music Screen, or Song showing or anything else. This is the official term for it, and while in many cases we can figure out what you meant it makes things clearer for everyone if the proper term is used. This refers to both the screen shown while playing music, and the .wps file combined with a folder of bitmaps, but does NOT refer to a specific theme which may include many things beyond this. Please keep the terms WPS and Theme seperate in your discussions, again to help avoid confusion.

"Brick" - This term refers to a player that is not recoverable without using special hardware or software tools to recover it. At the moment the only known "brick" is if an H100 or H300 has a failure during the bootloader flashing. Though the Sansas and Gigabeats can reach a status very near bricking, there's an established recovery process using either instructions or software tools readily available, and so they should not be considered bricked. We appreciate that you try not to overuse this term as it can be very misleading: Most "bricks" are both entirely recoverable and a result of user error rather than the software itself.

Please note that I have made a change to posting guideline #4. It is now required that support requests include an identification of the SVN revision number of the build that you are running.

Thus, please include the revision number (e.g., r14180) of the official build that you are experiencing a problem when you report a problem or request help in this forums.

Please:

--Do not say "I am running today's build" or "I am running a current build." Rockbox typically undergoes multiple revisions each day, and saying "today's build" is often not sufficiently specific to allow us to respond to your post.

--Do not ask questions regarding unsupported or custom builds. Questions regarding unsupported builds may be asked only in the thread dedicated to that particular build in the Unsupported Builds forum. If you believe that your issue is not related to the unsupported build, test on the most recent official "current build" and if you can replicate your issue or problem in the official current build, say so in your post and indicate the revision number you tested.